Goat Brothers [Mass Market Paperback]

Larry Colton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1994

An account of the lives of five men who were fraternity jocks at Berkeley during the 1960s follows their journey through college and to adulthood, describing how they tackled love, Vietnam, race riots, Reaganomics, and more. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Colton intertwines his memoirs of the past three decades with portraits of four of his fraternity brothers from the 1960s. BOMC main in cloth.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

"Goats" were Pi Kappa Alpha pledges at the University of California in the early 1960s. Colton, who had been one of them, recounts his life and those of four Pi Ka brothers from Berkeley to middle age. Obviously, there are changes. The "dullest" brother becomes an astronaut. One battles mental illness. Colton goes from being a jock to becoming a writer. Still, change comes slowly. Boozy frat parties evolve into drug use and drunken-driving arrests. Evasion of taxes is a grown-up form of buying term papers. Most notably, Colton never seems to understand the women's movement when, ironically, it is attitudes like those spawned by Pi Ka that helped bring about feminist unrest. Not a nostalgia book designed to leave us with warm, fuzzy feelings for the past, Goat Brothers is nonethless recommended for libraries serving upscale Baby Boomers.
- Jim Burns, Ottumwa, Ia.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Dell (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440216702
• ISBN-13: 978-0440216704
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,459,238 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frat Life In The Sixties, January 23, 2000

By 

David C. Racker, FASLA (Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goat Brothers (Hardcover)

I first blitzed through this book when it initially came out and thoroughly enjoyed it as I too was a member of the same Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity .... only on another campus at the same time the author was at Berkeley. I found the experiences of fraternity life frighteningly very similar. More remarkable, however, is the candor and honesty the author exhibited in disclosing with his readers the results of his choices made in early adulthood that manifest themselves with a vengence in later life. This book paralells the five lives of both more responsible and lesser responsible young men and the consequences that inevitably take place. The Author lets us in to his inner most circle of friends and family including his famous mother-in-law Hedy Lamarr who died this week. Having just read her obituary I was provoked to reread "Goat Brothers" again after 8 years. Now, with sons and daughters of my own in college, and like Larry having a precious daughter with an eating disorder, I can't think of a better book to have them read to show them the criticality of their young adult decisions and the impact those decisions will have on the rest of their lives. I only wish there was some way to contact the author Larry Colton, to inquire about any other books he's finished or working on, to wish him well, slip him the secret phi phi grip and salute him with a sincere "ppka Brother!".

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book about the early 1960's, December 18, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (East Lansing, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goat Brothers (Hardcover)

This book is for readers (maybe particularly men) who want to read about and try to understand the early 1960's. A haunting true story of fraternity brothers at the University of California (football star Craig Morton is one of them) and how their lives developed both in and after college. Great reading.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story of 60s Campus Life, April 25, 2000

By 

Kim K. (Bayonne, New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Goat Brothers (Mass Market Paperback)

I first read this book when it came out about 7 years ago & am just now getting around to reviewing it. I remember the story as if I'd just read it last week-5 frat boys who became Big Men On Campus, their stories are true and there's never a dull moment. It's all here, the keg parties, the football games, the protests, etc. The book would've made a great tv mini-series, providing they let Larry Colton write the screenplay. Anyway, if this ever comes back in print you should make it a point to buy it. Highly recommended.